In the mid 1920s, Dr. Usui met Dr Chujuro Hayashi, a forty-seven-year old naval reserve officer, Dr Hayashi had spent most of his working life in the armed forces but had long held an interest in the spiritual path and the healing arts. Dr Hayashi must have been deeply touched and impressed by the Dr. Usui's peaceful yet powerful presence, his deep wisdom, and genuine compassion. After practicing and experiencing Reiki for some time under the guidance of Dr. Usui, he decided to devote the rest of his life to practicing and teaching Reiki. It is said that Dr.Usui and Dr. Hayashi worked closely together to develop the actual "Form of Reiki", that is, how best to give treatments, the twelve hand positions, the differen degrees of training, and how to teach Reiki. Dr.Hayashi's legacy and gift to us is a system of healing that has great clarity, strength, and simplicity, and which enables us to keep Reiki true to the Essence of Dr. Usui's intention. This combination of Essence and Form creates a clear lineage of how to practice and teach Reiki, so that practitioners many centuries into the future will be able to experience the Essence of Reiki and practice the Form as it was given to others many years ago. As more people become attuned to Reiki, the whole planet will benefit,deeper and clearer levels of consciousness and understanding will naturally arise in the minds of those seeking a lasting solution to global and personal problems but this continuity of global healing will only be possible if we can keep the form of Reiki close to Dr. Usui's intention. Following the death of Dr. Usui, Dr Hayashi is said to have become the Second Reiki Grand Master. Dr Usui was buried in a temple neat Koyoto with the story of his life written on a memorial stone. It is said that the grave was honored by the Emperor of Japan.

Dr. Hayashi ran a very successful Reiki clinic in Tokyo with other practitioners until 1940. During this time he taught and gave Reiki to many people, and kept detailed records of all his cases. Toward the end of the 1930s, Dr. Hayashi had a series of insights and intuitions regarding the imminent world war and how it would affect both himself and the future of Reiki. Because of his previous military experience, he could not avoid military service. Unable to reconcile his life as a healer and with the possibility of harming others, understanding that the potential war made the future of Reiki uncertain in Japan, he chose to confer Grand Master on someone who could continue his work elsewhere. He chose Mrs. Hawayo Takata to be the Third Reiki Grand Master. Mrs. Takata was an experienced and well-respected Reiki Master practicing in Hawaii and as far as we know, she was the first person to take Reiki beyond the shores of Japan-a choice that symbolized Dr. Hayashi's trust and confidence in her. Toward the end of his life, Dr Hayashi taught Mrs. Takata all he had learned from Dr. Usui, and from his own experience. On the day he died, he summoned his close family, said his goodby's and left them with special personal messages. He sat down in the traditional Japanese posture, meditated, and prayed for a short time. He then breathed a deep sigh and peacefully died. Dr. Hayashi, like his own Master Dr. Usui, was a great man. Together they were responsible for the creation and expansion of one of the most simple, profound, and complete healing systems we have ever known.

Hawayo Takata was born in Hawaii in 1900, The American daughter of Japanese parents. When she was twenty-nine years old, her husband died and she was left without money to bring up her two small daughters. At thirty-five years old, she had a serious health problems, she had lost a lot o weight and was severely distressed after the death of several family members. In the autumn of 1935, after she had almost come to the end of her endurance and following much prayer and soul searching, she had a clear intuition that an answer to her problems would be found in Japan. Desperate, yet confident that her intuition came from God, she traveled to Tokyo t see a doctor friend at a hospital there. After many test, she was told her only hope was surgery. She had another clear intuition prior to the operation that it would not be necessary, and that another form of treatment would become known to her. At the consternation of the doctors and nurses she refused the anesthetic and left her bed. While leaving the hospital, she asked her doctor friend if he was aware of any other treatment, and he told her of Dr. Hayashi's Reiki clinic. She visited Dr. Hayashi and, despite her initial skepticism of Teiki's simple, hands-on style, decided to continue regular treatments with him. To her surprise and and delight, her health began to improve and this continued until all her problems had ceased.

Mrs. Takata's life was so completely and wonderfully transformed by Reiki that in her gratitude she needed to learn Reiki and share it with others. She asked Dr. Hayashi if he would teach her Reiki so she could practice it in Hawaii. Reiki had not been practiced outside of Japan, and Dr. Hayashi may have wondered if it would remain true to ?Dr. Usui's intention when interpreted by a different culture. However , even at this stage, he must have realized that Reiki was destined to spread much further than Japan, so he agreed to Mrs. takata's request on the condition that she remain in Japan as an apprentice practitioner for one year. During her apprenticeship she learned how to treat herself, how to give Reiki to others, and how to develop a deep personal relationship with Reiki so that in time she would need less guidance from Dr. Hayashi and be more able to rely on her own wisdom, intuition, and experience. Dr. Hayashi was very pleased with her progress during her training, and just before she returned to Hawaii , he initiated her into Second Degree Reiki.

After Mrs. Takata had successfully established a Reiki practice in Hawaii for two years, she invited Dr. Hayashi to visit in early 1938. He was very impressed with what she had achieved and how she had respected and emphasized the linage and cultural tradition of Reiki. During this visit, Mrs. Takata was initiated as a Reiki Master. Dr. Hayashi recognized Mrs. Takata's natural understanding and empathy toward the suffering of others resulted from her own difficult life experiences. Over the following years he also recognized her qualities of professional integrity, honesty and appreciation for the value and potential of Reiki as a healing technique and as a tool for spiritual and personal growth. Often he felt that Hawayo Takata would be the ideal person to protect and carry on the Reiki lineage. In 1941, not long before his death, although he had taught other masters, he decided that because of her complete dedication and great example of "living" Reiki, Mrs. Takata should succeed him as the Third Reiki Grand Master. Following Dr. Hayashi's death, she continued to practice and teach Reiki in Hawaii for many years, only teaching Reiki Masters in her seventies, when she felt Certain her students were ready to receive, and that she and Reiki were ready to give.

Hawayo Takata Died on December 11, 1980m after having taught twenty-two Masters in the United States and Canada. Her granddaughter, Phyllis Lei Furumoto, became the Fourth Reiki Grand Master and holds this title today. When Phyllis was a little girl she recalled helping her grandmother give Reiki treatments, and Reiki being a natural part of everyday life. In a sense, the early bonding with Mrs. Takata was the beginning of her journey and apprenticeship toward one day becoming Grand Master herself. As she grew up, Reiki became less of an obvious presence in her life and she led a normal personal and professional life. Although Mrs. Takata often talked about her work with Reiki, it was not until Phyllis reached her early thirties that she considered her grandmother's requests to travel and practice Reiki with her. The decision to do this was a turning point in Phyllis life. They spent much time together as colleagues, practicing, talking, and arguing about Reiki! They sometimes differed in their approach t life and their work with Reiki. This relationship and process of learning from each other even continued for some time after Mrs. Takata's death, as Phyllis often felt her strong and peaceful presence. Their differences and discussions as Reiki Masters were a source of insight and self-discovery and perhaps served to give Phyllis confidence in her own ideas of how she wished to be as a Reiki Master, and finally as Grand Master.

Takata Masters Before her death in 1980, Takata initiated 22 Reiki Masters.

George Araki Ursula Baylow Fran Brown Wanja Twan Mary McFadyen Rick Bockner Harry Kuboi Takata's Sister

Barbara McCullough Paul Mitchell Barbara Weber Ray Virginia Samdahl John Gray Harry Kuboi Patricia Ewing Barbara Brown

Beth Gray (no longer teaching) Iris Ishikura (deceased) Ethel Lombardi Phyllis Lei Furumoto Dorothy Baba (deceased) Bethel Phaigh (deceased) Shinobu Saito Takata's Daughter

After Takata's death, the Takata Masters gathered for a special conference in Hawaii and voted Mrs. Takata daughter as their new Grand Master. A few Masters decided to break off from this original organization and began their own version of the Reiki teachings. Some of you may recognize some of the names in this list above. A Reiki Alliance was formed to maintain the values, rules and knowledge dedicated to the Usui system. But even Mrs. Takata daughter began to have her doubts about some of these restrictions and she too broke off from the alliance. Whatever the form, Reiki is a powerful tool to be used for the good of all.